False
prophets are always in error about all things essential to salvation. They talk
about God, but have no idea who God is. They preach about Jesus, but do not
know the Lord Jesus Christ from a gourd. They talk about the Spirit, but have
no idea who the Spirit of God is or what his work is. The god they preach is no
God at all. “They pray unto a god that
cannot save.” The Christ they preach is a false Christ. And the
spirit they preach is another spirit. Therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ warns
us, “Beware of false prophets!”Here are two marks by which false prophets
are identified.

The Character of Sin

As
they are heretical in all other essential matters, false prophets are also
errant regarding the nature of sin. The false prophet makes sin an outward act
rather than an inward principle(1 Tim. 4:1-3). Whereas, the
Word of God declares sin to be an inward principle of corruption from which all
acts of evil spring. In other words: -- We are not sinners because we do bad
things; but we do bad things because we are sinners.

If sin is something I do, then all I have to do to get better
is quit doing certain things. That is exactly the principle upon which all
false religion operates. That is why legalism is found and appears to work
everywhere in the religious world outside the kingdom of God. This is precisely
what the Apostle Paul warned us of in 1 Timothy 4:1-3.

"Now the Spirit
speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith,
giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in
hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry,
and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received
with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth."

Sin is not something I do. It is what I am. It is not my
behavior, but my being that is abhorrently evil. Because my problem is inward
more than outward, I need regeneration not reformation.

The
Confession of Sin

If we would be saved we must
confess our sin, not to a priest, a preacher, or a church, but to God Almighty.
Like the publican of old, we must rip open our hearts before God, bowing before
him with our vile hearts and souls utterly naked, looking to the blood and
righteousness of Christ alone, and cry, “God be merciful to me a sinner!”
May God grant you the grace to do so for Christ’s sake. Amen